Tuesday, 20 March 2018

Born in 1999, hailing from a small German village, Lukas had been Hardcore infected since a very young age. Having already released tunes on Kniteforce Records & KFA as part of several compilations, now is the time when our proud friend, TNO Project, releases his very own personal work under the KF sublabel, Knitebreed Records. Breeded with joy, loyalty and devotion to the movement, TNO is one of the most iconic Nuskool producers at present and the future belongs to him.A down to Earth kid, despite his young age being also musically mature on a time when his beloved influences, locals and pioneering Marusha & Dune have announced new releases.

You had the priviledge to open your horizons from a very young age, furthermore getting yourself into production.Can you tell us in which age you did your first tune ever and which one was it?

So, my first tune was probably "Actionvase" back in 2012 when I was 13 years old. You can still listen to it on YouTube by the way (haha).I've been in contact with music since I was 6 years old playing the piano. Furthermore, my father played (and still plays) in various rock bands, which made me able to play with some music gear in the early days. I first got in touch with electronic music when my father showed me an old version of Cubase including Reason and we put some fx on our voices.Then I made some random melodies with the Cubase midi editor and was carried away for some time. From that point, I used Garageband to make more tracks until I purchased Logic Pro X in 2016.

Can you tell us in which city you're based and how's things in German scene at the moment in your eyes?

I'm living in a small village next to Wolfsburg, the city of Volkswagen.Due to my age, I've noticed late a bit, that there is a scene at all. But there are still some good people producing Hardcore. For example Marusha, Systec & Sir Rice, Empyreal and also Alex Jungle. And I got in contact with a KFR chat buddy from my area recently.

In Germany, at least in Wolfsburg, it's all about EDM parties mainly, and there's also a club, which plays Drum & Bass sometimes, but there are definetely less oldskool events.

Being a descendant of the big German scene and acts such as Marusha, Dune or Westbam makes them your influences & big heroes as you've already told me on a past interview.Any other acts or anything else that inspires you with your tunes?

Well, there are plenty of acts I really like and I get inspiration from. But when I started producing, it was in particular: DJ Force & The Evolution, Jimmy J & Cru-l-t and Addiction's Mind Penetration Remixes EP.

Another big influence is Akira Yamuoka, the sound designer of the Silent Hill games series.

little TNO aged 3,5

The year 2016, you've signed on Kniteforce with your tune "The Advice" getting featured on KFA77 TRUE SKOOL EP 12.From that time you've got featured on Vinyl Is Better 3, Death To Digital 12" and now this brand new work from you, the Fragmented Brain 12" EP.

Do you remember Luna-C's early feedback and the background of your signing back then as well as how we reached to this new release on Knitebreed?

When I began to listen to more and more Kniteforce music, I also googled a lot about the background and quickly found out, that Kniteforce is still alive.

That was in 2015 and after a couple of months, I found the 'submit music' section on the Kniteforce website. I took some time until I was sure enough to send something over. It was the track "Now Fuck Dis", also featured as the first tune by me ever played on radio in your Gen X show. Luna-C liked it a lot apart of some small EQ errors and was actually up for release, but I already enabled the SoundCloud downloads; it was pretty annoying (lol)...

But Luna-C told me to keep on producing, so I came up with the tune ''The Advice'', which was featured on KFA77 in 2016. I continued producing stuff and sent it over to Luna-C. So I have some releases on 'Vinyl Is Better 2' & 3 and 'Death To Digital EP ', which was a highlight for me in 2017 being my first track ever on vinyl.

At some point last year, I've sent to Luna-C 2 tracks and he was like: 'If you send 2 more proper tracks we might do a whole EP'.I instantly agreed and started producing. In the end we have my first solo release right HERE!

What production equipment did you use for your first official personal release, the Fragmented Brain 12" ?

To record and arrange everything I'm using Logic Pro X. My studio speakers are KRK Rokit 6's. For synth sounds, I am using the Novation Mininova, one of those Yamaha reface models, the DX, and the Arturia Mini Brute (I really like). For playing in stabs or any other sampled sounds with Logic's internal sampler EXS24, I'm using a Novation Launchkey midi keyboard. And for typical drum sounds like the 808 or 909 I'm using the Roland TR-8.

How long did it take you to write all tunes for this EP and how can you personally describe this release?Have you felt anyhow pressed sorting that out?

I don't remember exactly how long it took, it really depends on things like school or my current mood. But I've sent the first two tracks "Start Lovin" and "This Gen-E-ration" on the 17th March last year to Luna-C. Afterwards I've sent "Metempsychosis" on the 10th July and finally "Gambling Addiction" on the 28th July.

So how would I describe my EP? What I really love about a lot of oldskool hardcore tunes is the mixture of dark and light. So I took this as the main element on this EP.

I'm also avoiding using the same breakbeat in every track. Therefore I used different samples in every track on this EP. All in all the tracks should give you a feeling of dark strain, redeemed by some happier parts.

During the whole process of writing the tracks for my EP, I never felt any pressure by myself or by the label. I never experienced any pressure working with Kniteforce at all, so big thank you for that, Chris!

TNO studio

On this new work you've achieved blending with a unique result happiness & darkness in all tunes and that is the key trademark. What is your favourite tune from there?

Thats a difficult one! I like all the tracks on my EP, otherwise I hadn't put them on there (lol).

But if I have to pick my favourite it would be "Gambling Addiction" pretty close to "Metempsychosis". I just really like the blending of the dark and the light side! Wondering how I achieved this sometimes (haha)...

How does it feel when a 19yr old producer holds on his hands the vinyl of personal work which is out on the proud Kniteforce?

Almost indescribably. I mean, when I started listening to Hardcore and found out about Kniteforce, I was like 'Thats so cool, why coudn't I've been born 20 years ago?'

That are the tracks that came to my mind now, but there are plenty of more for sure!

What can you advice someone who wants to start producing Hardcore Breaks music?

Well, I think it is really useful to select a favourite tune and to try to recreate it at first. So you can learn different techniques etc.Later on, you can find your own sound. But in general, be ready to sample everything from everywhere.

Interesting and good samples are the key to a good track in my opinion.

Lukas I would like to thank you a lot for this interview @ Strictly Nuskool Blog. Still feel happy getting your first one ever on Generation X [RadioShow].

This time focusing on your fresh personal work. Wish you inspiration, strength and moreover music hunger for a bright future, because guys like you are an essential next step for the Hardcore movement. Bigup yourself!Any closing message, shouts out to anyone?

First of all, thank you for the opportunity to make this interview!So, big shouts go to: Chris (Luna-C), Stefan Bartos, Dean Evans, my family, Glyn, all the KFR chat crew and most important everyone who's supporting the scene!

You can order now TNO's first personal work, 'FRAGMENTED BRAIN' limited 12" EP comprised of 4 fresh mental Nuskool Hardcore tunes. As ever there will be no digital version only to vinyl buyers and the release will come out by a strict number of 300 hard copies only.

Official KF/Luna-C statement:"TNO has been waiting for his debut release, after having tracks on the Vinyl Is Better series and doing numerous remix work for myself and others on Kniteforce. He has a unique style, with his happy melodies usually containing a twist of menace, dark edges to happy days. Deep rolling basslines and heavy beats compliment an almost traditional happy sound, to create something in a class of its own. I am super stoked to have him release his first EP on Knitebreed, and you can be sure this is the first of many!"